The days are getting longer. The sun is getting warmer and warmer. Eventually it’ll be really hot, sticky and sweaty. Hot, sweaty, sticky bodies may be very sexy, but a sweaty face, especially one with makeup on it, is not sexy at all. When it gets hot and your makeup can’t take it. Your eye makeup starts running and you look like a raccoon. Your foundation start to streak and you look worse than you did when you woke up.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are some tips and tricks that you can use to help you keep your makeup closer to the way it looked when you first put it on.
Preparation
No matter what time of year, you should always wash your face with a cleanser made for your skin (we’ll talk about that in another article). Now moisturizer is a touchy subject depending on your skin. If you have oily skin you can probably skip the moisturizer or just moisturize under the eyes. Your skin will hydrate itself in warmer months. If you have dry skin you want to use a light, non-oily lotion. If your skin is somewhere in-between experiment a bit. Start by only applying moisturizer to the dry parts of your face. You want to keep your skin balanced so it’s not going crazy underneath your makeup.
Foundation
The summer months are very tough on foundation. If you can avoid wearing foundation is your best bet. It’s one less thing for you to deal with. But for those of us with a scar or dark or light spots to cover, foundation is important. So the key to summertime foundation is to go light (light-weight, not light in color). You don’t want heavy layers of foundation on your face because it’ll be more prone to streaking and clumping and just looking bad in the summertime.
If you’re using liquid foundation you probably want to switch to an oil-free formula. One way to make your liquid foundation even lighter is to mix it with some oil free moisturizer. When applying liquid foundation try to stay away from the hairline. That’s generally where you get sweaty first. Avoid pressed powder if you can. It clumps up when it gets moist. The best foundation for the summertime is a loose powder mineral foundation because it is lighter than other foundations. You can also re-apply loose powders without the caking and clumping of other foundations.
If you have specific areas like acne or scars that you want to cover, use a concealer stick. This stays put longer than other foundations. Blotting powder is also great especially with liquid foundation because it’s very light and has no color so you can re-apply more often than you can foundation. Finally always have blotting papers or tissue handy. If your skin gets oily or sweaty blot the oil and/or sweat with blotting papers or tissue. Blotting papers work better than tissue.
Mascara and Liners
If there’s only one thing you remember about summertime eye makeup, let it be the word “waterproof”. You’re more likely to sweat in the hotter months so you’ll want to make sure your eye makeup stays put. Moisture can wreak havoc on eye makeup so waterproof makeup makes the most sense in the summertime, especially if you’ll be hitting the beach. So, get your self waterproof mascara and eyeliner to start. Also look for long-lasting liners and mascara so that you won’t have to re-apply later. You also want to only apply eyeliner and mascara to your top lashes and lash line. Your bottom lashes and lash line are more likely to get sweaty and cause the dreaded raccoon eye.
Shadow and Lipstick
With eye shadow, you can also get waterproof colors. Cream shadows also do much better in the heat than powders. Another tip for eye shadows is to use a primer. Primer helps to keep your shadow in place. Try not to apply shadow all the way to your brow line as it is more likely to get messed up in the summer heat. Lipstick is a little tricky since sweat and heat are not the reasons that lip color doesn’t last. You should look for lipsticks and glosses that say “long-lasting” and/or “highly pigmented”. These types of products will make it through eating better than other products.
Now that you have some tips on how to win the battle between heat and your makeup you can feel more confident going out with your face on in the sweltering heat. But always remember that in the summertime less is more. You want to have a lighter, more effortless and carefree look in the summertime. And that starts with less makeup.
Until next time, cheers to a better you!